Almanac

Fire destroys home on Skyline Boulevard

by Dave Boyce

Fire destroyed an unoccupied two-story home at 17507 Skyline Blvd. in unincorporated Woodside early on the morning of Dec. 23 and charred several redwood trees surrounding the house, firefighters said.

No one was at home at the time, including the family dog that had been boarded off-site for the weekend, Fire Marshal Denise Enea of the Woodside Fire Protection District told the Almanac.

Ms. Enea said the house most recently sold for $2.2 million. An investigation into the fire's cause is ongoing, but it appears to have started outside, she said. A neighbor, awake around 2 a.m. and tending a baby, smelled smoke, heard the crackle of a fire and called 911, Ms. Enea said.

The 2,500-square-foot house — which was fully aflame and had probably been burning for at least an hour before firefighters were called in — is surrounded by tall redwood trees, many of which burned, but not severely enough to imperil their survival, Ms. Enea said. It was a one-alarm fire, she said.

Redwood duff on the ground burned, as did a wooden deck and the house's cedar shingles. The shingles "escalated the fire and actually increased the damage to the house because (the house) wasn't ignition-resistant at all," she said.

Along with the Woodside fire district were firefighters from Menlo Park, Redwood City, and San Mateo County. Engine 58 from the Sky Londa station about a mile away was first on the scene, she said.